Coupling



I July 9, N. -w. ADOLPHII COUPLING Filed'Ma'y 19,' 1943 z Sheets-Sheet 1NORMANWZADOLPH @JM/M July 9, 194 N. w; ADOLPH COUPLING 2 Sheets-Sheet 2FIG. 7.

Filed May 19, 1943 -JqL amen 1M NORMAN WADOLPH m ,BMWM

W n s My invention consists in anew Patented July 9, 1 946 1:. 3 .1;

i' Nmrman wnAdolph Grafton; Illl, assignor to: I=lli I 5. mois {PowderManufacturing Company I Louis, Mo., apo'rporationof Illinois Applicationnag--19, 1943-, serial No."487,6;38 1.01 m (crass-.193)- .provement incouplings and is designed-to provide means for connecting -'rods,'tubes, etc.,1n such away as to firmly relate the elements to preventendwise or ro'tative relative" movement thereof, and is particularlyintended for-connecttwo or more tubes'of explosives which are to beinserted into a bore. In the use of a series of these explosive tubes,it is often necessary to "work the tubes up and down in the bore tocause 'thern to pass-downwardlytherethrough; and such reciprocationobviously imposes a very' 'severe' strain upon the coupling-meansconnecting the several tubes in the series. It is to insure a reliableconnection, to prevent any relative endwise or rotative movement of theseveral tubes, which is the purpose of my invention. The devicecomprises only tWo parts, a compressible.

expansible collar to embrace the abutting ends of a pair of tubes, and alocking member to rigidly attach the collar to the tubes. novel anduseful features of the invention are the inclined adjacent edges of thecollar and the inclined flanges of the locking member which co-act in aWedging action to clamp the collar in position on the tubes, and aseries of fangs on the inner surface of the collar which bite into thematerial of the tubes, when the collar is clamped thereon, to insurerelative immobility of the collar and the tubes.

I have illustrated in the drawings filedherewith, and have hereinafterfully described certain The particularly "the compressible, expansible"collar 1' consisting of a single piece of suitable fresilient materialforming, when compressed; a cylindrical member having such aninterior.diameter that the tubes A and B, to'be joined, aretightlygrippedthereby.

'Ihe' abutting longitudinal edges 2 of the member l are bent uponthemselves to form flanges 3 -('Fig.i 3) "which have inclined oppositelydisposed outer edges' l spaced from the outer'surface of the member I--"Ihelocki ng .membertl'has its longitudinal :ofuteredges- 6 formedwith 'an"=*in- .clination corresponding'with that of the edges fi of theflanges 3; and-providedwith inwardly turned flanges E. The lockingmember 5 hasa portion 8, at its narrower end 5a, bent at an angle of 90to the rest of the member 5, to provide an operating handle. vided withsets of struck-up fangs extending in- The collar I is pro- These endseries comprise fangs 9 and I0, the. former lying in planes parallelwith the longitu-' dinal axis of collar I, and the latter inra plane 7parallel to the transverse axis of the collar I (Figs. 3, Sand 8). Athird series, composed'entirely'of 'fangs I0, is circumferentiallydisposed equidistant from the ends I- -a and I--b. The reason specificembodiments of my invention, but it is 1 Fig. 3 is a horizontal sectionon the line 3-3 of Fi .1. V

Fig. 4 is a front elevation, showing, the coupling inthe process ofapplication to the tubes;

Fig. 5 is a horizontal section onthe line 5-5.

of Fig. 4. a r

Fig, 6' is a front e1evation, similar'to Fig. 1, showing a modified formof coupling.

Fig. 7 is a'vertical section on the line 'I'I of Fig. 6.

Fig. 8 is an enlarged, fragmentary, horizontal section on the line 88 ofFig. 6.

for the peculiar character and disposition of these fangs 9 and I 0 willpresently appear. 7

In the modified form of the device, illustrated in Figs. 6, '7 and 8,the handle 8 is dispensed with and the locking member 5 is provided witha suitable orifice II adjacent its end 5-b. With the form of the device,so illustrated in Figs. 6, '7 and 8, the locking member 5 can be drawninto locking position by any suitable form of hook I2 in-' serted intothe orifice I I. I

From the foregoing description of the details of construction of thedevice, its operation will be obvious. When it is desired to connect thetubes A and B by the improved coupling, the end A-I of the tube A isinserted into the end Ia of the collar I (Fig. 4) until the end A I isreceived on the upper faces of the'fangs ID at the middle of the memberI which thus serve as stops to properly relate the tube A and member Iso that the upper half of the member I embraces the tube As illustratedin the drawings, the preferred 7 form of the device, shown in Figs. 1 to5 comprises the inclined edges 4 of the flanges 3 are least A. Thelocking member 5 is then applied to the collar I by passing its end 5boverthe flanges 3 at the end I-a of the collar I. It is to be noted thatthe turned-overinclined edges 6 of the memher 5 are most widely spacedat the end 5b, and

the open end I--b, until the end B-I is received against the lower facesof the fangs In at the middle of the collar I serving as stops toproperly relate the tube B to the collar I and consequently to the tubeA already positioned in collar I, so that the lower half of the collar Iembraces the tube B. Thus it is obvious that the coupling issymmetrically disposed with relation to the tubes A and B. The lockingmember is then forced downwardly from the position illustrated in Fig. 4to that illustrated in Fig. 1, the Wedging efiect of the edges 6 ofmember 5 and the edges 4 of collar I thereby tightening the collar aboutthe tubes A and B and causing the fangs 9 and I0 adjacent the ends I-aand Ib to penetrate the tubes A andB respectively. The disposition ofthe fangs 9 prevents rotation of the tubes A and B relative to thecollar l and the disposition of the fangs I0 prevents relative end-wisemovement of the tubes A and B and the collar I.

It is obvious that the above described applica- 4 in Figs. 6, 7 and 8,by the use of the tool I2 inserted into the orifice I I, instead of theuse of the turned over portion 8 of the preferred form.

Having described my invention, what I claim is:

In a coupling for connecting two endwise abutting tubes of opaquematerial, the combination of an expansible, compressible collar adaptedto embrace the abutting endsofthe' tubes, said collar being providedwith means whereby relative rotation of the collar and tubes isprevented, comprising a plurality of inwardly turned fangs disposed onthe inner surface of the collar and lying in planes parallel with thelongitudinal axis of the collar, and jurther provided with means wherebyrelative axial movement of the collar and tubes is prevented, comprisinga plurality of inwardly turned fangs disposed on the inner surface ofthe collar and lying in planes parallel with the transverse axis of thecollar, and further protion of the coupling to the tubes may beperformed with the modified form of the device, illustrated vided withmeans whereby the transverse axis of the collar may be positioned tocoincide with the transverse plane passing between the abutting ends ofthe tubes, when the collar is applied to connect the tubes, comprising aplurality of inwardly turned fangs disposed on the inner surface of thecollar, on the transverse axis of the collar, and lying in the plane ofsaid transverse axis; and a locking member adapted toengage the collarto compress it and project the fangs of the said first and second meansto penetrate the tubes, and the fangs of the third means to pass betweenthe tubes.

NORMAN W. ADOLPH.

